From today until Monday, I’ll be in Philadelphia looking at antiquarian books. I have scheduled a few zombie posts but comments may be late in coming… 

“You Sexy Thing” has a permanent place on my playlist. With its bouncy, popcorn percussion, surprising violins, catchy guitar riff, and a knockout vocal by Errol Brown, it’s a masterpiece of seventies funk. I never get tired of hearing Errol (who died this year at the age of 71) raise his joyous voice to praise the miracle of sexual attraction and mutual carnal delight.

I googled Errol Brown to find out what the owner of that unmistakable voice looked like. And what a handsome man he was!

And then there are the lyrics…

I believe in miracles
Where you from, you sexy thing?
I believe in miracles
Since you came along, you sexy thing

Where did you come from, angel?
How did you know I’d be the one?
Did you know you’re everything I prayed for?
Did you know, every night and day for?

Miracles, angels and prayer are perhaps not the first topics that spring to mind when someone sits down to write a song called “You Sexy Thing.” But why not? Soul music embraces the physical, yet it reaches for something transcendent. This is a song about the thrill of being alive, embodied, and able to give and receive love.

And it’s good fun. Maybe that’s why it’s been used in at least thirteen movies, most notably in The Full Monty, with the delightful Robert Carlyle and pals (including Mark Addy, and Tom Wilkinson) as a bunch of unemployed steelworkers who form a male striptease act that is EVER so much more interesting than the Chippendales…

Accept no covers or mixes. Only the original!